Irvine-based subprime lender Option One Mortgage Corp. has agreed to pay $28.2 million to settle government charges that it failed to disclose its deteriorating financial condition. Option One, which now operates as Sand Canyon Corp., was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with misleading investors over the state of its financial condition in 2007, when it was selling more than $4 billion worth of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities.
Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. is set to open its first Latin America office in Brazil in September. The office will be headed by Alec Kersman, a senior vice president who oversees the investment firm’s Latin America and Caribbean business. Pimco is the world’s largest bond fund manager with about $1.7 trillion in assets under management. Separately, Pimco said it is launching a global exchange-traded fund designed to hedge against inflation. The Global Advantage Inflation-Linked Bond Strategy Fund will invest in inflation-linked government bonds.
The Orange County Transportation Authority approved $10.2 million in county sales-tax receipts as partial funding of a $65 million road project connecting Avenida La Pata in San Clemente and La Pata Road in San Juan Capistrano. The authority also approved $13.8 million to widen Bristol Street in Santa Ana and $9.7 million for traffic-signal synchronization in 12 cities.
Electrical-relays manufacturer Hongfa America, a unit of China-based Fujian Hongfa Group Co. Ltd., moved its headquarters from Tustin to Lake Forest. The company, citing increased space needs, purchased a 30,000-square-foot facility as its new home.
The 13th annual Newport Beach Film Festival opened on April 26 with a screening of Jewtopia, a movie adaptation of an off-Broadway comedy. An estimated 52,000 attendees are expected during the festival’s eight-day run.
Newsong Church in Irvine, whose members have expressed interest in creative- and community-oriented development, is seeking to buy the Santora Arts Building in downtown Santa Ana for $6.2 million through a limited liability company. Newsong said it has a “dream” of creating a community arts theater.
Starbucks will open six cafes at Burbank-based Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks in Anaheim and Florida. The first of the sites will open this summer in Disney California Adventure, part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.
Newport Beach-based Traffic Control and Safety Corp. filed for bankruptcy reorganization. The 5-year-old company leases traffic-control products and also offers safety services.
Orange County workers had the state’s eighth-highest average pay in 2010, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Average annual pay was $54,193 in OC, compared with $54,399 for all counties in the state. Another recent pay report, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, analyzed data from the third quarter of last year and found OC wages averaged $53,782 on an annual basis.
Broadcom Corp. cofounder and Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli joined a growing list of billionaires who pledged to give at least half their wealth to charity. Samueli, who also owns the management company that runs the Honda Center in Anaheim, was among 12 new members who signed Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s “Giving Pledge.”
Presley Development Co. founder Randall Presley died April 12 at age 93. He started the residential development company in Bakersfield in 1956 and moved it to OC in 1963. It merged with Pacific Lighting Corp. in 1984, and was sold to Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes as part of a $325 million deal in 1987.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
MIXED: The picture on bankruptcy cases in OC during March, when a total of 1,529 individuals and businesses filed, according to the Central District of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana. It was the highest monthly tally since August but down almost 19% compared with a year earlier.
